Sara Dennis is joining the Teenage Cancer Trust ward at Addenbrooke's as a newly trained nurse, after many years working in hospital management.
I always wanted to be a nurse and never thought I was bright enough - so my husband applied for me as he knew I could do it."
Sara Dennis
49-year-old Sara has just completed her nurse training at Anglia Ruskin University. She says:
"My career before nurse training was working as a ward clerk at Addenbrooke's and before that working for the Emergency Bed Service for the Acute Neonatal Transport Service (now PANDA).
"Nurse training is a 3-year degree course and you are trained at various NHS sites both hospital and community to gain practical hands-on nursing experience alongside academic work at university.
"Applying for a job at CUH was really easy and straightforward and being given a job was amazing as it's been a long 3 years getting here.
"I think the main challenge will be the large change in going from student status to fully qualified registered nurse and learning the role I have been accepted for.
"CUH has been my home hospital for 9 years and it will be a real privilege to finally say I am a registered nurse working at CUH and working on the Teenage Cancer Trust ward."
It's absolutely amazing, it's been everything and more. I feel it's a real privilege to be allowed into people's lives when they're scared or poorly or vulnerable.
Sara Dennis
Newly qualified nurses like Sara are vital for this Trust and the NHS and it's really important that we continue to support them and help to build their careers.
Lorraine Szeremeta, chief nurse CUH
Lorraine Szeremeta is chief nurse at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH).
With more wards and orthopaedic theatres opening soon, she says there is a particular need at CUH for more nursing staff. She says:
"We are a Trust that's growing. We recently recruited our 12,000th employee and soon we'll have 120 new nursing and healthcare support workers staffing our 3 new orthopaedic theatres due to open later this year."
"Recruiting and retaining nursing staff is a challenge, and as with many other NHS hospitals we've had to widen our international nurse recruitment to help meet this, and bring down our vacancy rates but we also have a strong pipeline of newly qualified nurses like Sarah joining us too and hundreds more from our apprenticeship schemes."
For anyone considering a career in nursing I say go for it, it's never too late.
Sara Dennis